


Drinks and Reunions

by JustAFigmentOfYourImagination



Series: Nelson and Murdock Short Stories [2]
Category: Daredevil (TV)
Genre: But before The Defenders, But you can read it that way if you want to, Friendship, Gen, Not explicitly Matt/Foggy, Post-Season 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-06-12
Packaged: 2019-05-21 13:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,077
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14916443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustAFigmentOfYourImagination/pseuds/JustAFigmentOfYourImagination
Summary: It's been a few months since the events that brought an end to Nelson and Murdock. When Matt turns up unexpectedly at Foggy's office, the two of them decide to get a drink and see if there's anything left of their friendship.





	Drinks and Reunions

**Author's Note:**

> Set after the events of Season 2, but before the events of The Defenders.

To say that Foggy was tired seemed like a massive understatement. Unforgivably massive, actually. He wasn’t sure what word he would use to describe how he felt, but he was pretty sure it would be stronger than “tired”.

              He was a few months into his new job at Hogarth Chao & Benowitz, and while he enjoyed the work, the job was incredibly demanding. It was fast paced with high stakes, and in so many ways a change from working at Nelson and Murdock. It had been an adjustment, but he thought he was getting the hang of it. And it was nice to have an abundance of cases at his fingertips, to be able to just do his job, even if it wasn’t exactly what he had pictured for his career. He would be lying if he said he didn’t sometimes miss the atmosphere of the old office with Karen and Matt, but for the most part he had no complaints.

              Well, except for how god damn tired he was.

              He leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes. He was sitting alone in his office. Darkness had long ago fallen outside. He just wanted to finish going over the file on his new case, since he was meeting with the client the next day. After that he could go home. It had been a long day, and he just wanted it to be over. “You wanted this, Nelson.” He mumbled aloud to himself. “This was your career choice. You could have picked something less exhausting, but you wanted this.”

              He leaned forward and went back to reading, only to be interrupted a few moments later by a knock on the door. It took him a few seconds to remember that the secretary had already gone home. He sighed. “Come in.” He called.

              The door opened, and a hesitant voice said, “Um, I can just go, if this is a bad time.”

              Foggy whipped his head up in surprise. Matt was lingering in the doorway, looking uncertain as to whether he should go inside or bail on the whole idea. Foggy’s voice got caught in his throat for a moment. He and Matt hadn’t seen each other in months. He had checked in on him shortly after the thing with Elektra, just to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid, but it had been a brief visit and they hadn’t spoken since. “Hi.” Foggy said finally, when he got his voice working again.

              “I…you’re busy.” Matt said. Foggy didn’t asked him how he knew. “I’ll just go, this was a bad idea.”

              He started to turn around, but Foggy spoke quickly without even thinking. “No!” Matt paused, and Foggy cleared his throat and said, “I mean, um, it’s okay. How did you know I’d still be here?”

              “You weren’t at your apartment.” Matt replied. “It wasn’t hard to figure out where you were if you weren’t there. I thought about waiting until you came home, but I decided to come and check out your new office. This is nice.”

              “Yeah, it is.” Foggy agreed. “Why were you looking for me?”

              He hesitated again. “I just wanted to say hello.” He said finally.

              “You could have called.” Foggy pointed out. He didn’t mean it as coldly as it came out. Or maybe he did. To be honest, he wasn’t sure how he felt about Matt these days.

              “I know.” Matt said. “I should have just done that. I don’t know what I’m doing here.” He looked sad and sort of hurt, a little like a kicked puppy, but accepting, like this was what expected to happen and he knew he deserved it, and again, Foggy wasn’t sure if that was what he wanted or not. “I’m sorry. I guess I just wanted to make sure you were doing alright.”

              “I’m alright.” Foggy said. He debated internally for a moment, and then asked, “How are you?”

              “I’m doing okay.” Matt replied. “Thanks.” There was an awkward silence, and then he said, “I’ll just go. I should let you get back to your work. I’ll see you around, Foggy.”

              He started to leave again, and Foggy made a split second decision. “Do you want to get a drink?” He asked suddenly.

              Matt paused and looked back at him, startled. “I…are you sure? Don’t you have work to do?”

              “I can do it in the morning.” Foggy said. “I was just trying to get a head-start. I could use a drink. I mean, it’s cool if you don’t want to, but…”

              “No, a drink sounds good.” Matt said quickly. “Let’s do it.”

              “Okay.” Foggy said, standing up and shoving his stuff into his bag before he had the chance to question his decisions. “Let’s go.”

**000000000oooooooooo000000000**

              It had been a while since Foggy had been to Josie’s. Matt said they could go somewhere else, but at this point Foggy couldn’t really picture getting a drink with him anywhere else. When they walked in and sat down at the bar, Josie made a tutting noise at them. “Well, look who’s decided to grace us with their presence.” She said.

              “Hi Josie.” Foggy said. “The usual, if you can remember it.” Josie grumbled something in reply and got them their beers.

              Both of them drank in silence for a minute or so, each of them trying to decide what to say. Foggy finally decided just to rip the band aid off. “Have you talked to Karen at all?” He asked.

              “A little.” Matt said. “We’ve spoken a few times. She seems to like her new job.”

              “Yeah, she does.” Foggy agreed. He had been keeping up with Karen pretty regularly, and had gotten to hear all about her job at the newspaper. He could tell how much she loved her work. “She’s good at it.” He added.

              “Yes she is.” Matt said with a small smile. “Well we always knew she was wasted as our secretary.”

              Foggy laughed a little. “That is true.” He said. He looked at Matt. “What have you been up to?” He asked. He had to admit, this was something he had found himself thinking about a great deal in the months since he had last seen him. It was hard to turn off worrying about Matt. He was sure that Elektra’s death and everything else that had happened must have had an effect on him, and he couldn’t help but worry about how he was doing. “Have you found a job?”

              “I’ve been working a few cases.” Matt said. “Mostly pro-bono work. I like it. I feel like I’m actually doing some good for once.”

              Foggy smiled. “Good.” He said. “I kind of miss that sometimes.”

              “Your firm’s not so bad.” Matt said. “I mean, yeah, it has the same kind of baggage and questionable wealthy cliental as any major law firm, but it’s better than some. Compared to Landman and Zack it’s practically angelic.”

              Foggy snorted with laughter. “I suppose you’re right about that one.” He said. “I’m glad you’re taking cases again, though. You are actually a good lawyer, when you bother to put in the effort.”

              “Thanks.” Matt said quietly. “I’d forgotten how much I enjoy it.” Silence fell again. Foggy was about to ask about what kinds of cases he’d been working (not sure he was ready to take the conversation beyond work yet) when Matt suddenly spoke first. “I miss you.” He spoke softly, and he had his head tilted down like he was looking at his drink, but Foggy had no doubt he was carefully monitoring his reaction. “That’s why I came to your office. I miss you. I know that a lot has happened, but you’re still the closest friend I’ve ever had. And I know that I’ve treated you badly. I’ve done things that weren’t at all fair to you. I betrayed your trust and I hurt you. And there’s nothing I can do about that except say that I’m sorry. And look, you don’t have any reason to forgive me, or to want me back in your life. And if you don’t want to have anything to do with me, I understand and accept that, and I’ll leave you alone. You don’t have to see me ever again if you don’t want to. But if you’re willing to give me another chance…I’m trying to do better. And I miss you.”

              Foggy listened to his speech silently and took a moment to absorb it. He couldn’t deny, even to himself, that he had missed Matt too. He couldn’t act like he hadn’t thought about going to see him, just as Matt had ended up doing himself. But he also didn’t think he could pretend that it all just hadn’t happened, either. “I hear no one has seen Daredevil in a while.” He said casually.

              Matt tensed a little. “I heard he retired.” He said.

              “You think he means it?” Foggy asked.

              “I think he’s trying to.” Matt replied. “I think as much as he cares about Hell’s Kitchen, he lost a lot and hurt the people he cares about. And he doesn’t want to do that anymore. So he’s trying to let it go.”

              “Can he promise he’s not going to end up going back if he discovers something he feels is a big threat?” Foggy asked.

              It took Matt a few moments to answer that one. “He’ll cross that bridge when he comes to it.”

              “Fair enough.” Foggy sighed under his breath. “You know, maybe the people who care about him don’t necessarily disagree with desire to protect people. Maybe it’s not even that they don’t understand why he does it. Maybe they’re just worried about him putting himself in harm’s way in the process. They don’t want him to disregard his life, because he’s important too.”

              “He knows that.” Matt said.

              Foggy shook his head. “I don’t know. He seemed like kind of an idiot to me.” Matt laughed, and Foggy had to smile. “I miss you too.” He said. “All the time. But we can’t just go back to the way things were.”

              “I know.” Matt said, a slightly more hopeful note entering his voice now. “I need to earn your friendship back. And I want to, if you’ll give me the chance. However you’re comfortable with. It’s up to you.”

              “We can start slow.” Foggy said. He glanced around the musty bar. “I missed this place.”

              A smile quirked on Matt’s face. “Really?”

              “Yeah, I’m surprised too.” Foggy said. He took a drink of his beer, and then said, “We can keep doing this, if you’re interested. Just get a drink every once in a while. Get to know each other again. Try to have a good time. Like we used to.”

              “That sounds good.” Matt agreed. “I’d like that.”

              “Good.” Foggy said. He looked down at his drink. “Now I’m going to down this beer.”

              Matt grinned. “Don’t you have work tomorrow?”

              “Just because I have a better job does not mean I am making better life choices.” Foggy informed him. “It has been a draining evening. Drink with me.”

              “If you say so.” Matt said. He picked up his drink. “Cheers.”

              “Cheers.” Foggy agreed. They clinked their drinks together and drank them as quickly as they could. Foggy coughed, slamming his glass on the counter a little harder than he meant to.

              Matt made a face. “Wow, that’s awful.”

              “That used to be easier.” Foggy said, still coughing.

              “I don’t know, you were always kind of a lightweight.” Matt said teasingly.

              “ _I’m_ the lightweight?” Foggy cried, looking at him incredulously. “No way, Murdock. I knew you in college.”

              “It’s possible you and I remember college a little differently.”

              “I’m surprised you remember it at all.”

              Matt laughed, and Foggy couldn’t help but laugh as well. He regained his composure and then said, “No point in stopping now. Josie, two more, please.” He called to Josie, and then turned to Matt. “So tell me about what you’ve been doing.”

              “There’s not much to tell.” Matt said.

              “I don’t care. Tell me anyway.”

              So Matt started telling him about the first pro-bono case he’d worked on, and the noisy new neighbor who had moved in across the hall who left his TV on all night, and how he had run into a former client of theirs at the store the other day, and Foggy had the most fun evening he’d had in months.

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback is always appreciated, as are story ideas (although I make no promises about which ideas I actually write). Hopefully more to come soon.


End file.
